The present invention relates to the supply assemblies that supply materials to be sprayed (e.g., paint, undercoating material, abrasive granules, or liquid adhesive) to spraying devices such as liquid spray guns or sand blasting guns, and in one aspect, to such material supply assemblies in which the materials are supplied to the spraying devices from within collapsible containers.
Various liquid supply assemblies have been described for supplying mixtures of component liquids to be sprayed to gravity feed liquid (e.g., paint) spraying devices such as spray guns, including the supply assembly having a collapsible liner that is described in International Publication Number WO 98/32539 of Jul. 30, 1998, the content whereof is incorporated herein by reference, and the improvement in that supply assembly described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/901,410 filed Jul. 9, 2001, the content whereof is also incorporated herein by reference.
The liquid supply assembly described in WO 98/32539 includes a container of stiff polymeric material comprising a side wall with a top end of the side wall defining an opening into a cavity in the container, and a flexible liner within that cavity, which liner corresponds in shape to an inner surface of the container, and has an annular lip along the top end of the side wall that defines an opening into a cavity in the liner. That liquid supply assembly further includes an adapter assembly comprising a central portion having a through opening that is adapted to engage the inlet port of the gravity feed liquid spraying device, a transverse portion including a peripheral part adapted for engagement within the flexible liner adjacent the top end of the container, and means for securing the flexible liner around that peripheral part of the adapter assembly. The flexible liner within the cavity in the container can be used as a receptacle for measuring and mixing two or more component liquids for the mixture to be sprayed. After the liquids are mixed the adapter assembly is secured to the flexible liner, the adapter assembly is engaged with the inlet port of the spraying device, the liquid supply assembly is positioned above the spraying device with the bottom wall of the container uppermost, and the spraying device is operated to dispense the liquid mixture from within the flexible liner. The flexible liner collapses as the liquid mixture is dispensed to restrict the formation of a vacuum in the liner.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/901,410 describes a liquid supply assembly for use with gravity feed liquid spraying devices that, like the liquid supply assemblies described in WO 98/32539, provides indicia by which component liquids for mixtures of liquids to be sprayed by such devices are measured to provide predetermined ratios. The liquid supply assembly described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/901,410 affords conveniently providing indicia that facilitates measuring many more of the different ratios of different component liquids that might be desired by operators of such liquid spraying devices than when such indicia are provided on the containers or mixing cups as described in WO 98/32539. This is done by providing different indicia on a plurality of different indicating sheets of resiliently flexible polymeric material, any one of which sheets can be positioned between the side wall of the container and the flexible liner.
A liquid supply assembly for use with gravity feed liquid spraying devices incorporating features described in WO 98/32539 and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/901,410 is currently being sold by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company under the trade designation xe2x80x9c3M (T.M.) Paint Preparation Systemxe2x80x9d. That liquid supply assembly is sold in two different fairly large sizes (i.e., about 20 fluid ounces or 600 ml and about 32.1 fluid ounces or 950 ml) and incorporates several disposable parts that are typically discarded rather than being cleaned after liquid is sprayed from them.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/112,182 filed Mar. 28, 2002, describes economical and easily usable liquid supply containers for a small amounts of liquid to be sprayed by a gravity feed spraying device such as a spray gun, such as, for example, when a painter is testing a paint mixture for a color match, or is painting a small surface area, or is spraying a thinned clear coat or blending clear to blend new and old layers of clear coat.
The containers described above arc effective for use with materials mixed near the site of application of the materials.
The present invention provides a material supply assembly for use with a spraying device such as a spray gun, which material supply assembly is useful for supplying material to be sprayed that has been prepared and packaged at a location different than that at which the material is to be sprayed.
The material supply assembly according to the present invention includes a housing of stiff material comprising a side wall having a top end defining an opening into a recess defined by the housing; and a pre-filled container comprising a stiff annular lip adapted to be positioned along the top end of the side wall, and a flexible portion fixed to the annular lip and a dapted to extend into the cavity in the housing when the annular lip is positioned along the top end of the side wall. The flexible portion has an inner surface defining a cavity opening through the annular lip, a quantity of material to be sprayed is within the cavity, and a polymeric membrane extends across and is sealed to the annular lip to retain the material in the cavity. Also included in the supply assembly is an adapter assembly having a through opening, having at one end a transverse portion including a peripheral part adapted for engagement with the annular lip positioned on the top end of the housing, and having at its opposite end a portion adapted to engage the inlet port of a material spraying device. Means are provided for sealing the peripheral part to the housing with the annular lip between them. A piercing structure projects from the central portion and has a distal end portion adapted to pierce the membrane as the peripheral part is engaged with the annular lip positioned on the top end of the housing so that the material can then flow from the cavity in the flexible portion through the adapter assembly into the spraying device.
The material sup ply assembly can conveniently be used for a variety of pre-packaged materials to be sprayed from a spraying device, such as paints, coating or sealing materials, liquid adhesives, abrasive granules, or the like.
The piercing structure can include an outlet portion having a through central opening and having a periphery firmly engaged with a surface defining the through opening in the adapter assembly; a second opposite end comprising a piercing point adapted to pierce through the membrane sealed across the annular lip; and an inlet portion between its outlet portion and piercing point that projects past the peripheral part of the transverse portion. That inlet portion has inlet passageways spaced around its periphery that communicate with the through opening in the outlet portion.